By Col. Gary Anderson, USMC ret
Last week, I did something that I haven’t done in years. I suggested to a friend that his son and daughter consider military service rather than immediately go to graduate school after getting their undergraduate degrees.
I would not have done this before the outcome of the November election became known, but I am betting on the come that the new administration — particularly Secretary of Defense Hegseth — will put the military back on the right track.
My friend is an Army Vietnam veteran. His son is a senior honor student in Systems Engineering at Cornell, and a club hockey player. His daughter is a sophomore at Boston University, She is also an honor student and an accomplished ballerina; both speak fluent Russian.
They are the kind of potential officer candidates that the services have been struggling to recruit for at least the last five years.
Both are considering graduate school, but the cost is daunting. The young man is a perfect candidate for the Navy’s nuclear reactor program. The daughter is considering law school, and would be a fine addition to the Navy JAG corps.
Like me, he had not considered recommending that the kids look into military service due to the wretched state of morale to which the services had sunk in the Obama/Biden years.
Even though the new administration is only a few weeks old, my uniformed sources at the Pentagon are delighted.
Although the worst of the “woke” generals and admirals have not yet been purged, the winds of change are blowing in a way reminiscent of the early weeks and months of the Reagan administration.
Why? To paraphrase Bill Clinton; it’s the leadership stupid.
During the Biden administration, trust in the military sank to its lowest point since the end of the Vietnam War. The reason is not the troops, but in the senior leadership — military and civilian.
Secretary Hegseth set the new tone when he pointed out that Biden’s mantra that our strength is in our diversity is perhaps the most stupid phrase in American military history.
He also stressed accountability by removing General Milley’s picture from the Pentagon. Milley was perhaps the worst leader of our military in history and never took an iota of responsibility for the debacle of our Afghan withdrawal. His consorting with the Chinese at the end of Trump’s first term borders on treason.
Although the administration is only a few weeks old, much has ben done to dismantle the DEI structure which has degraded the recruiting effort.
However, much remains to be done. The dead wood still has much low hanging fruit to be picked and discarded. CQ Brown, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and chief DEI cheerleader has yet to be removed.
Still in place is General Eric Smith, the Marine Corps Commandant. Smith not only lied to the press about Marine Corps involvement in DEI, but he has not removed the President of the Marine Corps University (MCU) who actively spies on Marines at social events to check up on their wokeness.
MCU also sponsors a women’s center that has nothing to do with the warfighting mission of the Corps. Smith has not closed that down either. It has taken a congressman to try to defund its wokeness.
The Chief of Naval Operations, herself an obviously underqualified DEI “first,” will undoubtedly come under close scrutiny.
The Air Force has been the most aggressive service in shutting down DEI in promotions and education. It may have been overzealous in cutting out some references to the Tuskegee Airmen, but that mistake has been corrected.
Whether my friend’s kids decide to serve or not, I believe that he and I will not be alone in again recommending military service to kids, grandkids, and neighbors.
The pay and living conditions are good — and will get better under Hegseth — as are the opportunities to learn trade skills and pursue advanced education in addition to Veteran’s Administration post-service medical and education benefits, all while serving their nation.
Things will not heal themselves in the DOD immediately, but I hope veterans will give Trump and Hegseth a chance to right the ship by supporting the recruiting effort.
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